It was congratulations all round as Mexted Sports Turf’s
groundsmen were recognised in the 2024 Cricket Wellington
Ground of the Year awards. Hutt Recreation Ground, which is lovingly managed by veteran groundsman Kevin Wakefield, was voted Ground of the Year by Wellington cricket captains, who score the pitches each week throughout the season.

Kevin has 47 years as a groundsman in the Hutt
Valley and Wainuiomata under his belt, and his
passion and commitment have not only seen him
create exceptional playing surfaces season after
season, but he’s also passing on his knowledge to
our younger groundsmen. 

Our Fraser Park, Petone Recreation Ground and
Barton Oval groundsmen deserve an honourable
mention, as they were also ranked in the top five
Cricket Wellington venues this year. Congratulations to Ben Trethewey, John McKessar and Campbell Webster.

​No sooner had legendary singer, Tom Jones, finished belting
out the final notes of his sole New Zealand concert at McLean
Park, Napier in April, than Mexteds moved in to begin a major
renovation of the outfield and removal of the permanent clay
block in the centre of the field. The outfield is a Motz ECLIPSE hybrid turf, originally installed by HG Turf Group from Australia in 2018.
The surface must be renovated on a regular basis, and this
latest resurfacing was part of the long term maintenance plan and in line with HG Turf Group’s hybrid turf warranties.
Mexteds used a Koro Topmaker unit to remove organic matter, followed by grooving and sweeping to clean up remaining turf debris and stand up the hybrid fibres.
The area was then top dressed with turf sand and broomed to further stand up the hybrid turf fibres, before fertilising and dimple seeding.
Mexteds also removed the old permanent clay cricket block in the centre of the park and reinstated the area to match the rest of the park’s outfield, with geotextile cloth, Megaflo drainage pipe, drainage chip and turf sand.

​Couldn’t be prouder of Mexteds’ construction team who worked at Sky Stadium through the day and night alongside HG Turf Group, the Sky Stadium team and Roger Morgan of Readylawn Christchurch.
We pulled out all the stops to finish re-turfing the stadium after the Foo Fighters concert, making sure the pitch was ready for the Waitangi Day match between Wellington Phoenix FC and Central Coast Mariners, which was attended by a season-best crowd of over 12,000.

>>> Watch here

Air Printing - no paint, no fuss
Mexteds has an exciting and innovative new service on offer - air printing images and logos on sports turf!
This state-of-the-art technique involves no paint, and is ideal for sports events in stadiums or where the crowd is viewing from a grandstand to get the best effect.
We have a crew who can bring your air printed logo or message to life with drone footage, just like we did this week for the Team Ledger Harcourts Capital Classic Track & Field event at Newtown Park, Wellington, which was shown live on Sky7 channel. 
Get in touch if you have an idea for air printing, be it a marriage proposal or a logo for a sports event, we'll do our best to make it happen!
>>> Watch video

Surface Transformation with Primary Drainage 
Mexteds' construction crew is installing primary drainage in two soccer fields at Mazengarb Reserve for Kāpiti Coast District Council, which are affected by a high water table.
Check out the video to see the team in action!
We'll be back at Mazengarb Reserve in April to install secondary gravel banding drainage, which will complete the transformation of this very popular park.

>>> Watch video

​There is a great buzz at Mexteds as the FIFA Women's World Cup kicks off, especially after having had a Mexteds’ stitching team over in Australia for five weeks helping to prepare their three FIFA stadium venues.

Our stitching technicians, Matt, Anthony and Wade joined an international crew working 24/7 to stitch Allianz, Coopers and Suncorp stadiums in Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane, working alongside HG Turf Groupand @SISGrass staff from Europe.

We shipped our SISGrass Universal machine over to Australia for the job, which saw four machines completing each stadium in a week.
​
We’re super proud of our guys and seeing the stadiums in great shape as this much anticipated tournament gets underway.

After a challenging week with Cyclone Gabrielle, it was great to see the Wellington Blaze and Northern Districts women's cricket teams go head to head at Hutt Rec  in round 7 and 8 of the Hallyburton Johnston Shield.
Mexted Sports Turf’s groundsmen Kevin Wakefield and John McKessar had covered the wicket ahead of the storm, and when the covers came off on Friday were relieved to find the wicket still in very good shape. After rolling, marking and mowing the outfield, the covers went back on until Saturday morning, which dawned sunny and calm.
Kevin and John were kept busy during the match rolling between innings and were delighted with how well the wicket played in the first professional senior women’s cricket match to be played at Hutt Rec since 1990.
Alex Geenty from Cricket Wellington said the wicket played really well. "There were plenty of runs in it and it had pace and bounce that was in excess of what you'd expect from a club-level pitch."
Wellington Blaze took a convincing 154 run win over Northern Districts, in what was the first professional senior women's cricket match to be played at Hutt Rec since 1990, seeing them through to the HBJ final in Queenstown on 4 March.